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Published: January 13th 2011
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Lazy-day start to next morning, day 2 in Dubai, but rewards of a Pakistani lunch await at a hole in the wall restaurant Kimberly has found, cheap, certainly delicious, real Pakistani lamb with naan and a side of dhal. Hard to beat this quality anywhere in Ottawa! With a satisfied, full stomach – no breakfast at home but tea – we are off to the Dubai’s Old Souk in Deira, found on both sides of the Dubai Creek, and also know as the Spice Souk or Gold Souk district. Leisurely walking about, we take in the sights, sounds and the fragrant smells. Perhaps, not necessarily an old-world souk of the ilk found in older, traditional parts of the Middle East but, nonetheless, well worth a visit. While understandably pressed to “just come in and look” by hawkers, a polite ‘no thank you’ would mostly suffice in their getting the message we were not interested in buying. Hawkers proffered a lengthy litany, continuing unabatedly to the end of the list of wares, despite our walking away plainly not intending to buy!
We made our way to the docks trying to find an expensive way of seeing the Creek sights. We walked
along the docks area and caught the eye of ferry captain who pointed out to us, “the cost is 100Dhs for 1hr. as clearly posted”. We balked at the price of course, feeling that he was more interested in us than us him, but he was not yet prepared to bargain. We ferried across the Creek once with him for 1Dhs; and, he was to settle later for 100Dhs for the 2 of us!
Later that evening we make our way, by cab, the most readily-available means of moving about the city, to the Dubai Mall, a fabulous mega-entertainment centre, aglow in lights and filled with shoppers, including scare everywhere else Emerati families, eagerly shopping for luxury name brand goods, eating, drinking non-alcoholic cocktails, watching, and being watched by me. Inside are: an aquarium containing scuba divers feeding both fish and sharks; an ice skating/hockey rink (can’t imagine anyone playing here); waterfalls, and, packed, many hundreds waiting for the water fountain show starting at 7:00pm. It was simply amazing! And, we were watching at the foot of the world-renowned Burg Khalifa. The nightly show is free!
We made our way home by cab of course for 30Dhs and
city bus for another 15Dhs before we again cab to the Sahara Apts., another 10Dhs. Cities in the UAE are clearly not suited to walking around; taxis are plentiful and reasonably priced. They are really not either accommodating to tourists. It is well known that their primary concerns are oil, money and oil-money.
Sunday is the start of the work-week! I have to say I do not worry about the days of the week, nor losing days while on the trip. Still, I am looking forward to doing nothing or almost nothing tomorrow and getting a good night’s sleep. (Should have arrived on Thurs. sometime, as this is the start of the weekend!!)
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